...that the inventor of the electric motor was a blacksmith named Thomas Davenport? Described as "a brilliantly unsuccessful inventor", Davenport invented the first rotary electric motor. In 1836 he headed out -- on foot -- from his Vermont home to file a patent application at the Patent Office in Washington, D.C. By the time he got there, he had squandered away his money and couldn't afford the $30 filing fee so he turned around and went home. When he later mailed in his application with money he'd raised, the Patent office was destroyed in a fire. He did finally get credit for his invention on Feb. 5, 1837.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7360655 | Material handling system having a scoop wheel A material handling system is provided. The material handling system includes a tank defining a reservoir for receiving a solid material, and a wheel including a plurality of circumferentially spaced apart scoops for scooping solid material from the tank and subsequ... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7357259 | Material classifier having a scoop wheel A material classifier for classifying a liquid-solid mixture containing solid material to be separated is provided. The material classifier includes a tank defining a reservoir for receiving the liquid-solid mixture, and a scoop wheel including a plurality of circum... | 04/15/2008 |